A Family Broken
by wickedphoenix93
Summary: "Gideon Prewett, it took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes." Meanwhile, Molly sits at home with a newborn baby girl, agonizing over her brothers' fate. for Hawkflight7's All Hallows' Eve Competition.


A heavy layer of fog clung to the frosty ground, misting through the tress like spider webs. The forest was nearly as dense as the fog; the moonlight overhead barely broke through at all. The two men stood back to back in a small clearing, panting slightly yet otherwise as motionless as their surroundings in the dark. Nothing could be seen except the looming tree trunks, but still they stood poised, waiting. Their breaths came out in small puffs, lingering in front of their faces.

There came a whooshing through the trees, like a great wind rustling the leaves overhead, and then a heavy rattling breath. Gideon Prewett's wand whirled over his head.

"Expecto patronum!"

A blinding silver eagle soared from the wandtip, revealing the ragged black robes of four dementors circling above them before being chased away. Fabian sighed and held his own wand tighter as he watched the eagle dissipate. The Patronus had left the air temperature comfortable once again, as per the usual for a night in early autumn. And yet the brothers' shoulders remained set, their eyes wary of the surrounding trees.

A white-hot curse grazed Fabian's cheek and he spun, throwing a wandless Impediment Jinx over his shoulder. A muffled groan indicated that he'd at least managed to catch someone off-guard. A streak of red light flew out in retaliation, only to be blocked by Gideon in a shower of sparks. Fabian's face contorted in rage.

"Come out and face us, why don't you!" he snarled, brandishing his wand. Another hex flew at his face; Fabian blocked it and advanced into the trees. Gideon followed his lead and shot a Stunning Spell into the darkness.

"Oh come now, Prewett," sneered a voice as his spell exploded against the wall of a Shield Charm. "What need is there of that? You've always been predictable."

"Avery," Gideon muttered, his grip viselike on his wand. The other man's form registered in his line of vision, and Gideon's eyes narrowed. The fingers on his wand relaxed, and he spun it deftly.

Flames shot from its tip. Avery answered with a neutralizing wave of water, which Fabian twisted and whirled back on its creator. The Death Eater was knocked off his feet and Fabian dashed after him, hurling curses through the air. Roots sprang from the ground, instantly tripping him up.

"Keep your eyes open," a taunting voice called from behind them. Fabian rolled over on the ground, squinting in the dark. _Diffindo_ split the roots apart easily enough, but he saw Gideon thrown into the air and slam into a tree. Avery wasn't the only one on their trail tonight.

Fabian lit his wand and held it out in a defensive stance. "Dolohov, I was wondering what became of you. Slipped past Azkaban yet again, eh? Shame, that." He fired off a volley of spells toward this newly-present adversary, still trying to keep an eye out for his brother and Avery. It would be difficult, he knew; Dolohov was known for being one of the fiercest duelists within the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Especially when one takes into account that I'll be returning to the Dark Lord with two more killings under my belt – particularly two such thorns in his side as the Prewett bro-"

A shock of blue light knocked Dolohov backward midsentence, and Fabian took the moment to see what had happened to Avery. Fabian's stomach knotted when he saw that Avery's body had disappeared from where it had skidded to after their duel and he whirled, eyes wide and searching between the trees. In his mad adrenaline rush Fabian located his brother, and instinctively covered Gideon with a Shield Charm. Avery recoiled on Gideon's other side as the spell he'd just cast reverberated toward him. Gideon nodded wordless thanks and threw another curse in Dolohov's direction before turning to face Avery on his own.

Fabian wasn't fazed by Dolohov's jibe; he couldn't count the number of times he and Gideon had faced off against the forces of the Death Eaters before now, and they'd always managed to take the upper hand. To be honest, he almost expected it by now whenever they met.

"I would think your lot knew better than to toy with us," he retorted, sending a spiral of sparks out of his wand. The taller man's wand sliced through the air like a dagger, dissolving the sparks, and he stepped forward. Across the clearing, Gideon held his own against Avery without breaking a sweat, or so it seemed. Fabian blocked another curse from Dolohov, his mind turning over every option he could conjure. The ideal choice, he knew – as he parried and returned a spell in Dolohov's direction again – was to send a Patronus messenger to Dumbledore, or at least the Order headquarters. But between himself and Gideon, they were both pretty occupied at the moment, and he didn't want to risk one of them losing their lives because of a momentary lapse in rational thinking.

The crack of a whip echoed in the trees and a twisted, sardonic grin joined the fray. _Speaking of lapses in rational thinking,_ Fabian reflected, throwing out a Disarming Spell to distract the new arrival – Barty Crouch Jr. Gideon slashed at a serpent Avery had conjured, wrapping it into a ball and flinging it over his brother's head in pursuit of Dolohov. A two-on-three duel erupted as the brothers fought to keep their concentration flexible between their triad of opponents. If Avery considered the Prewetts predictable, Crouch gave them the advantage of keeping his cohorts on their toes: he was unpredictable to the point where no one was safe in his presence.

Crouch was blasted backward by a jinx and for a moment Gideon's face lit with the adrenaline rush that comes with achievement – he turned his full attention to Dolohov this time, passing Avery off to his brother. Three had been difficult, but one apiece was much more manageable, and in any case Avery appeared to be on his last legs. A wound was bleeding near his hairline and his robes were ragged and smoking. Gideon Prewett aimed a Stunner at Dolohov's face, but he was thrown off by the sound of maniacal cackling.

Behind him on the ground, Crouch appeared to have only had the wind knocked out of him. Even as he lay there, Gideon saw the Death Eater raise his wand and fire a cloud of green into the sky. His stomach dropped as he watched it form into the skull and serpent mark known across Britain, and for the first time he truly felt afraid. Beside him, Fabian's features hardened and he brought his wand down, aiming to kill the Dark Mark's caster.

Another reflective Shield Charm rose up between the brothers and their target, and leaves crunched on the ground on either side of them. Crouch got to his feet, still grinning, as Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange joined the group surrounding the Prewetts. Fabian felt his throat tighten. He refused to go down like this, with his robes torn and bloodied and having nothing to show for it on the offensive side; without having said goodbye to Molly and his nephews. But where three had been a difficult match, he knew five would be too much.

"Any last remarks?" Dolohov drawled, raising his wand.

Fabian flicked his wand, and a silvery stream shot into the darkness. Immediately Rabastan spun to counter, to stamp it out before it got past the treeline. There was a screech and a dull _thump_, and Gideon cast a sidelong glance at his brother, wondering what unfortunate creature the Death Eater had struck instead.

"Not really," he replied, bracing himself with his own wand outstretched. "Just wondering what dear old Bellatrix is up to this evening, since she doesn't seem to be joining the party." Rodolphus snarled like a bear and leapt forward. The forest was lit in one blinding flash, but when darkness settled once more and everyone's eyes had readjusted, it was to see the bodies of two brothers side by side, dead on the ground. The surrounding wizards all bore varying degrees of scrapes, gashes and burns, but the greenish glow overhead did not diminish.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"You couldn't land a curse on any of them?"

"They all ran for it as soon as they heard me Apparate, Arthur. I can definitely name names, and I can definitely tell you they were all pretty banged up from what I saw. I doubt Avery'll be much trouble after this."

Mad-Eye Moody's gravelly voice drew Molly out of the sitting room and into the kitchen. "Arthur, what's happened?" She cast a concerned look at the pair of them, then a more pointed glance at the stairs. "Did you at least cast _Muffliato_ before barging in here like this? It's past the boys' bedtime."

Arthur nodded, but his eyes appeared glazed over.

"I did find this," Mad-Eye continued, pulling an extremely ruffled-looking owl from inside his traveling cloak. Molly let out a shriek.

"My word, it's Errol! What in Merlin's name happened to him?"

"Stunned, from the look of it."

"He'll be alright, though?" Molly asked as she gathered the owl up in her arms and took him over to his perch near the window.

"As best as I can tell. He might be a little loopy for awhile, that looked to be a pretty powerful Stunner. Probably Dolohov's work."

"Dolohov?!" Molly echoed, her eyes widening.

"Yeah." Mad-Eye clawed inside his robe pockets, finally bringing out a square of parchment. Similar to Errol, it was a bit singed around the edges. Molly took it with shaking fingers.

"They didn't – they're not-?"

"It took all five to kill them, Molly. I wish I could say they'd seen it, but it doesn't look like Errol got there in time."

Molly Weasley let out an inhuman scream and collapsed into her husband's arms, her words incoherent through the full-body sobs that wracked her. She didn't know how long she let him hold her, she couldn't see anything through the tears or hear anything through her own sobs. Later she would wonder how Arthur had managed to be so stoic, but he'd lapsed into shock, holding her to him out of comforting habit.

"Where are they?" she finally gulped, turning to look red-faced at Mad-Eye. "Th-they didn't get taken, or-or dismembered, or-?"

"No, I've just sent Peter and Remus to pick them up." The Auror's gnarled hand dipped into his pocket again. "I saved this for you, though." He set a battered gold watch in Molly's hand – in place of the hands on the clock face, the watch had stars. Her fingers clenched in a fist around it and she sobbed harder.

"I c-can't believe – they d-didn't even know – th-they didn't get to hear-," she turned away, dashing through the house in a mad panic, clattering up the steps to the bedroom she and Arthur currently shared with their newest occupant. A baby girl rolled over in her bassinet, oblivious to her mother's heartache. Once hoisted into her mother's arms, however, Ginevra awoke and began to fuss. Molly hushed and cooed to the baby through her tears.

"Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian will watch over you, sweetheart," she promised, finally unclenching the hand that held the scrap of parchment. It fluttered to the floor as she held her daughter close.

_Fabian & Gideon,_

_I pray this finds you both well. I'm sure you will be delighted to know that after so many boys you finally have a niece: Ginevra Molly Weasley. I can't include a photo just now, but hopefully you can both pop by soon to meet her!_

_Love from your sister,_

_Molly_


End file.
